The Effects of Childhood Maltreatment on Adults
In the United States alone, 6.6 million children are subjected to childhood maltreatment, behavior toward a child that is outside of the norms of conduct and entails substantial risk of causing physical or emotional harm (“Child Abuse Statistics”). Maltreatment is categorized in four types: Physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse (psychiatric abuse), and neglect (“Overview of Childhood Maltreatment”). The myriad effects of these abuses are: victims of childhood maltreatment have less ability to express themselves and their feelings in their controlled environments, the high stress level put on a child in this type of situations may disrupt early development, by mixing the architecture …show more content…
People whose minds resort dissociation may see stressful situations as an out of body experience, as though they are just watching and it is not them being affected by the situation at hand (“Effects of Complex Trauma”). As Perry’s story unfolds throughout In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote, the reader clearly sees the foggy thoughts of children with histories of trauma, Perry easily talks using many words, but is unable to make sense of a situation or see the consequence of his words. To others it may seem as though a person in a state of dissociation is not paying attention or is “spacing out;” this affects victims by making it more difficult to learn, engage in social interactions, and conduct appropriate classroom behavior. The mental stress of maltreatment as a child can greatly affect behavior while growing up ( “The Effect of Childhood Trauma on The Brain”); adolescents and adults can be effortlessly triggered, and will likely react in a vehement manner. Behavior issues can also be characterized by: poor self regulation and impulse control, the ability to think through consequences before taking action, and behaving in what seems to be an unpredictable, volatile, extreme way; a child feeling powerless and fearful of authority may react defensively in response to blame or attack. (“Effects of Complex Trauma”). Alternatively, a child in the same situation may react by being rigid and overly compliant with adults. Victims often also struggle with relationships; a child's first impression of the world is that presented by a caregiver. Most children subjected to maltreatment have not had a substantial, healthy relationship with their caregiver, leaving them more vulnerable to stress, and therefore, commonly form sense of distrust and disgust with the world and other people, making is very difficult to develop any other relationships (“effects
In the United States alone, 6.6 million children are subjected to childhood maltreatment, behavior toward a child that is outside of the norms of conduct and entails substantial risk of causing physical or emotional harm (“Child Abuse Statistics”). Maltreatment is categorized in four types: Physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse (psychiatric abuse), and neglect (“Overview of Childhood Maltreatment”). The myriad effects of these abuses are: victims of childhood maltreatment have less ability to express themselves and their feelings in their controlled environments, the high stress level put on a child in this type of situations may disrupt early development, by mixing the architecture …show more content…
People whose minds resort dissociation may see stressful situations as an out of body experience, as though they are just watching and it is not them being affected by the situation at hand (“Effects of Complex Trauma”). As Perry’s story unfolds throughout In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote, the reader clearly sees the foggy thoughts of children with histories of trauma, Perry easily talks using many words, but is unable to make sense of a situation or see the consequence of his words. To others it may seem as though a person in a state of dissociation is not paying attention or is “spacing out;” this affects victims by making it more difficult to learn, engage in social interactions, and conduct appropriate classroom behavior. The mental stress of maltreatment as a child can greatly affect behavior while growing up ( “The Effect of Childhood Trauma on The Brain”); adolescents and adults can be effortlessly triggered, and will likely react in a vehement manner. Behavior issues can also be characterized by: poor self regulation and impulse control, the ability to think through consequences before taking action, and behaving in what seems to be an unpredictable, volatile, extreme way; a child feeling powerless and fearful of authority may react defensively in response to blame or attack. (“Effects of Complex Trauma”). Alternatively, a child in the same situation may react by being rigid and overly compliant with adults. Victims often also struggle with relationships; a child's first impression of the world is that presented by a caregiver. Most children subjected to maltreatment have not had a substantial, healthy relationship with their caregiver, leaving them more vulnerable to stress, and therefore, commonly form sense of distrust and disgust with the world and other people, making is very difficult to develop any other relationships (“effects